US embassy cable - 05TAIPEI3261

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 003261 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FPR EAP/RSP/TC 
PLEASE PASS TO AIT/W 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/04/2015 
TAGS: SENV, TBIO, TW, ESTH 
SUBJECT: WHO GUIDELINES ON TAIWAN PARTICIPATION 
 
REF: A. TAIPEI 00990 
     B. TAIPEI 02187 
 
Classified By: AIT Director Douglas H. Paal, Reason: 1.4 (B/D) 
 
1.  (c) Summary.  Taiwan Center for Disease Control (TCDC) 
has received a letter outlining terms for Taiwan's 
participation in WHO activities.  Terms include:  Taiwan 
participation be on a case-by-case basis determined by 
written invitation by WHO, that "experts" participate in 
their personal capacity, that Taiwan participants in WHO 
meetings and WHO representatives who visit Taiwan be below 
the Director-General Level, that Taiwan use the "Taiwan, 
China" nomenclature, and that Taiwan participants in expert 
meetings not engage in political activities.  AIT ESTOFF was 
able to view the letter under the condition that AIT and the 
U.S. not reveal to any Taiwan officials that we have seen the 
letter.  Taiwan has not yet formulated a response.  The 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), TCDC and the Department 
of Health (DOH) are in the process of determining Taiwan's 
position.  The TCDC contact who provided this information was 
not part of that process and had no insight to offer other 
than that, despite AIT telling TCDC it should expect such a 
letter (ref A), TCDC did not believe it would materialize and 
was therefore quite surprised by its arrival. End Summary. 
 
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Terms of Sneak Peek 
------------------- 
 
2.  (c) CDC representative Hsu Yu-chen (STRICTLY PROTECT) 
invited AIT ESTOFF to meet with her on August 4 to provide a 
discreet courtesy peek at the letter WHO sent TCDC Minister 
Steve Hsu-sung Kuo (STRICTLY PROTECT) on July 27.  Hsu 
indicated that Kuo was pleased that AIT had kept Minister Kuo 
informed of the WHO/Taiwan/PRC negotiations prior to the May 
World Health Assembly and wanted to return that goodwill. 
That being said, Hsu made clear that Kuo was doing this on 
his own and did not want anyone on the Taiwan side to find 
out he had provided this courtesy.  ESTOFF was allowed to 
look at the letter and take notes, but not provided a copy. 
 
---------------------- 
Contents of WHO Letter 
---------------------- 
 
3. (c) The gist of the letter minus the courteous formalities 
follows: 
 
Conditions have been agreed by which the WHO Secretariat will 
be able to allow the participation of "medical and public 
health experts from Taiwan, China" in technical activities by 
the Secretariat.  Similarly, WHO can dispatch staff and 
technical assistance to TCDC and "other competent Taiwanese 
institutions."  These priviledges are subject to the 
following conditions and procedures: 
 
Taiwan Participation in WHO activities: 
- "Taiwanese (sic, throughout) medical and public health 
experts to participate in technical activities organized by 
the Secretariat may arise from the initiative of WHO or 
informal contacts between Taiwanese experts and competent 
technical units of the Secretariat." 
- "Taiwanese" experts will be invited on a case by case basis 
only.  Invitation to any one meeting in no way implies 
general admission to others. 
- Invitations will be in writing from WHO and will spell out 
the terms of participation (financial, technical and 
administrative)(financial, technical and administrative). 
- "Taiwanese medical and public health experts" will be 
invited to participate in their personal capacity and "when 
designations of provenance are used, they shall be designated 
as coming from Taiwan, China." 
- Invitees will be under the Director-General level. 
- Invitees are not to engage in political activities and 
their participation may be terminated if they do. 
 
 
Dispatching of WHO staff to Taiwan: 
- "The activities referred to in this section may derive from 
the initiative of the Secretariat or from a request from your 
Centre or other competent technical authorities or 
institutions." 
- "The Secretariat will communicate in writing or through 
electronic means, depending inter alia on the urgency of 
situation and in any case as much advance notice as possible, 
about the background, modalities and conditions of any 
proposed activities and arrangements with particular regard 
to visit by WHO staff members and experts." 
- "It should be understood that they will only be able to 
initiate and accept meetings and discussions with Taiwanese 
medical and public health officials under the level of 
'Director General.'" 
- "We trust that the Taiwanese side will be prepared to 
respect this condition so as to avoid embarrassing and 
counter-productive situations, which could also affect the 
further implementation of the arrangements described in this 
section." 
- "It should also be understood that medical and public 
health assistance on the part of the WHO Secretariat may 
consist of the dispatch of WHO staff members and experts as 
well as of other forms of assistance such as, for example, 
sending medical products and equipment or making available 
public health information and publications." 
- "The assistance in question, furthermore, may be provided 
on a case-by-case basis and on a continuing basis for a 
certain period of time, depending on the circumstance and 
particularly on the gravity and urgency of the public health 
situation or of any actual or potential public health 
problem." 
 
 
The letter concludes by noting that the purpose of the letter 
is to set out the general terms of cooperation and sets out 
the expectation that Taiwan will implement and carry out the 
terms in good faith with the understanding that 
clarifications may become necessary during the course of 
implementation (this para largely paraphrased). 
 
End letter. 
PAAL